- A court order has ruled out the Khanyisa coal power, the proposed coal plant – backed by Saudi company ACWA Power. Since the beginning, the project had met countless legal and other hurdles.
- The ruling was based on a legal challenge to the project’s environmental authorisation by environmental justice group groundWork, represented by the Centre for Environmental Rights.
A court order has ruled out the Khanyisa coal power, the proposed coal plant – backed by Saudi company ACWA Power. Since the beginning, the project had met countless legal and other hurdles. The ruling was based on a legal challenge to the project’s environmental authorisation by the environmental justice group groundWork, represented by the Centre for Environmental Rights.
The litigation against ACWA Power, challenging the project, in the Pretoria High Court was launched in 2017 by groundwork. The CER accused that ACWA Power failed appropriately examine the project’s climate change impacts. It was alleged that the project, once implemented will emit 75,9 million tonnes of carbon dioxide, equivalent climate-changing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions that can harm the lives and health of residents of the already severely polluted eMalahleni area by air pollution. The project costing 73 billion, would have also led to toxic coal ash dump, the size of 140ha leaking into the Olifants Catchment, impacting the water source and livelihood for 4.2 million who rely on the catchment for their basic needs, fishing, farming etc. Pressure from environmental groups, compelled private banks such as Standard Bank, FirstRand, Nedbank and Absa to withdraw from funding Khanyisa.
Communities in the Highveld – where this plant was to be located – have been fighting for their right to breathe clean air. There are already 12 polluting coal-fired power stations in the Highveld. If Khanyisa was allowed it would have further deteriorated the toxic air pollution in the area.
